The invention relates generally to removable seats for boats and, more specifically, to a removable and portable seating attachment that will releasably grasp a boat thwart to provide a convenient seat.
Row boats, small fishing boats, canoes, and the like typically have transversely extended seats or thwarts consisting of a generally rectangular piece of metal or wood being relatively thin but of a width to accommodate seating. A user of the boat occupies the thwart while rowing the boat, fishing from the boat, merely during transportation as a passenger, and so on. Being flat and without a supporting back or arms, the thwart is usually uncomfortable and not well suited for the types of activities in which users of these boats typically engage. There is, accordingly, a need for an improved seat that can be removably attached to a conventional thwart and that will aid in the use, operation, and enjoyment of activities in such boats.
A number of devices have attempted to answer this need. For example, the seats disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,577,807 and 1,617,805 describe removable seats that may be secured by conventional clamps to a relatively thin, horizontal supporting member such as a boat thwart. Also known are seats as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,113,804 and 3,718,365 which teach seats that slide on rail members or the like mounted transversely of a boat. More recently, a removable boat seat was described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,825 which relies on releasable clamping fasteners to secure a two-piece base member of the seat to a boat thwart. The present invention improves upon such prior devices by providing an auxillary seat that is of a convenient, single piece construction and that may be more easily and quickly attached and removed from a boat thwart.